Hot weather protocol breaks all records

Thursday 22 August 2019
The hot weather in the last week of July 2019 resulted in the busiest period ever experienced by Stichting IMN. On 25 and 26 July, 898 and 843 IM reports were dealt with, respectively. These figures are more than twice as high as on other working days over the past few months. As a result, the two days in question occupy first and second place on the ranking of busiest IM days ever.

The high levels of activity were the result of the announcement of the so-called hot weather protocol. On days with extreme weather forecasts, Rijkswaterstaat aims to have broken-down vehicles removed from the hard shoulder as quickly as possible. This work, undertaken by IM recovery operators, falls under the heading breakdown removals. Breakdown removals are undertaken throughout the year but are normally only carried out if the vehicle in question represents a risk to other traffic. Because extreme weather can be hazardous for the occupant of a broken-down vehicle, the road manager has expressed the desirability of quickly moving all broken-down vehicles to a safe location in extremely hot weather conditions.

Days with the most IM reports since 2010

rank

date

number

primary cause

1

vr 26-07-2019

898

heat

2

do 25-07-2019

843

heat

3

di 25-06-2019

790

heat

4

wo 24-07-2019

754

heat

5

vr 27-07-2018

728

heat

6

za 07-01-2017

707

black ice

7

di 23-07-2019

704

heat

8

do 01-03-2018

676

cold

9

vr 03-02-2012

652

black ice

10

vr 19-04-2019

652

Easter congestion

11

ma 24-06-2019

588

heat

12

do 26-07-2018

577

heat

This year, the hot weather protocol was activated on 24 and 25 June and subsequently in the period 23 through to 26 July. All six days appear in the rankings of busiest IM days ever. This is not only because the weather conditions were particularly hot on these days. It is also due to the decision by Rijkswaterstaat to opt more often for breakdown removal than was the case in the past. This applies both during heatwaves and during other periods of the year. During the first five months of this year, the number of breakdown removals was 13% higher than in the same period in 2018.